Was denken die anderen Parteien eigentlich vom Existenzrecht Russlands? Müssen wir das nicht auch gewähren? Ich sehe nicht, dass der russische Staat in der jetzigen Fassung ein Recht zu existieren hat. Oligarchen, Diktatur, Angriffskrieg. Nichts schützenswertes.
Thank you, Olga Karach!
Spannend, dass die Union im #digitalausschuss schon bei meinem kurzen Eingangsstatement schnauft. Dabei wollte ich doch heute die ganzen Sätze, die meine Fragen nicht beantworten von Meta hören und nicht von der Bundesregierung :)
Wo zeigt sich das beschlossene Papier widersprüchlich zur Vereinbarung der Koalitionsparteien? Das sind ein paar Seiten hätte man halt schnell drüberlesen können und schauen ob es passt oder nicht, nicht so eine öffentliche Kampagne starten.
Current speaker is Ukrainian peace activist Volodymyr Ishchenko, author at The Guardian, and other newspapers.
Solidarity with Ukrainians has come to mean solidarity with the Ukrainians who fit the national story. For some reason it doesn't mean solidarity with the Ukrainians who are hunted in the streets to go fight in a war. I find that wrong.”
You can watch the livestream of the “Conscientious Objection is a Human Right!” military service refusal conference by The Left in the European Parliament here:
https://left.eu/events/conscientious-objection-is-a-human-right/
Third panel starts, lead by EU parliamentarian Özlem Alev Demirel with activists from different youth organizations across Europe, such as those showing resistence to Germany's new conscription law.
Current speaker is Alexey Sakhnin, known Jacobin author, a leading activist in the anti-Putin protests in 2011 to 2013 and a peace activist from the socialist opposition in Russia. Also from the Post-Soviet Left.
To become a working anti-war movement, you need allies. Instead, we find opposition. We are fighting a war on two fronts. The Russian draft on the one side, the European bureaucracy on the other side. Despite the EU saying they wish to end this war, their sanctions have ended any legal way of entering the country and applying for asylum.”
Current speaker is Olga Karach, also a member of War Refusal International, and a feminist who started the “No means no” movement in Belarus, women and men refusing the draft to fight in Lukashenkos wars.
She talks about the fact that she expected to receive repercussions from the Lukashenko regime, but never expected such backlash from the European Union. The immigration centers claimed it was too complicated to accept fleeing the draft as a reason to immigrate.
“In Belarus, we have the death penalty for desertation. We have a five year prison sentence for human rights activists who help deserters. At the same time, every year about 300 Belarusians are imprisoned for conscientious objection.
So many European nations have people asking for political asylum from Belarus in order to not have to fight in this war. Yet in countries like Lithuania, such an application from Belarus deserters is seen as a threat to national security. This official accusation is very absurd: Belarusian conscientious objectors can be recruited by Russia in the future? How is it possible that someone in the European Union can be punished for a potential future? Is this a new kind of law? A passport or a nationality can not be evidence for any threat.
It cannot be possible that we now bear the responsibility for the men who have started this war. As Belarusian women, we are responsible for our men! We are already responsible for their health, wellbeing, clothes, cooking. Now, I am hearing, we are responsible for Lukashenkos doing? That's a patriarchal approach by the European Union.”
“Peace will not start with negotiations, but humans refusing to kill each other, forcing leaders to start negotiations.”
Current speaker is Hülya Üçpınar, representative of War Refusal International and human rights lawyer speaking in more detail on the topic of refusing military service in Turkey.
The main fact she goes more into detail about is something internationally recognized as “civil death”. People in Turkey refusing military service exist in a legal limbo, collecting legal fees and fines, not being allowed to work, as well as being convicted for the same crime repeatedly, and hence being in every form but the physical one, dead, completely excluded from civil society.
She points out the case of journalist Kamil Murat Demir (39) who was apprehended over 120 times, has 11 criminal cases against him with him already being sentenced to over 3 years and 6 months imprisonment for the same crime, over and over again.
To answer the question whether evading military service is a class issue. I disagree. The military itself is a class issue. The military system is a business, making money off of people's conscience. [...] I believe that by working together we can turn this potential of refusing war into collective action!”
Next panel is hosted by Karoline Schaefer by @medicointernational
Aus gegebenem Anlass.
Fifth speaker is a Ukrainian deserter living in Germany, Andrej Konovalov, who talks about his insane experience of seeing fellow deserters deported back to Ukraine whilst having MPs from Germany's, at the time, leading Green party, telling him how unified Ukraine is.
He cites surveys showing how ⅔ of Ukraine wishes for the government to engage more in peace talks.
He speaks of knowing someone who never left his apartment for over 6 months for wanting to evade the draft.
Fourth speaker is Russian deserter Ilya Zaripov who recruited many people to not enlist in the war against Ukraine, explaining how he was refused vor a visa across Europe for not being “pro Ukraine enough”. “But I'm challenging that decision”, he says.
“When a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war comes, there must be an amnesty for deserters for both sides of this war. Anything else makes a ceasefire simply a preparation for the next war efforts.”
He is also known for many interviews on the topic.
Third speaker is the trans person and leader of the Tel Aviv chapter of the Communist Youth of Israel, Ella Keidar Greenberg! She refused serving the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and has experienced incredible
You may know her from the many interviews like this. Or many other videos on social media of her burning IDF conscription letters!
“Once Israel no longer has the material conditions to be a fascist society, we will see ideological change. It's your job as the international community to make that happen.”
She calls on leftist organizations across the planet to end the liberal debate around refusing military service, mainly focusing on personal choice, and to begin explaining the imperialist necessity of war in order to end it.
The EBCO is a very interesting organization! Worth taking a look here:
Second guest speaker is the vice president of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), Merve Arkun, also out of Turkey.
The European declaration of human rights recognizes conscientious objection as a right. People have the right not to die for their government's war!
First invited guest speaker was a man from Turkey who objected to their military service when he was 35 and is still harassed by the government because of it, 25 years later.
Day one of the conference for conscientious objectors (refusing military service) in the European parliament by The Left.
You can watch the livestream here:
https://left.eu/events/conscientious-objection-is-a-human-right/
